PHILADELPHIA — It hasn’t been that uncommon this preseason seeing Jason Richardson chuck a 3-pointer on one offensive series, then drive the lane and throw down a dunk in the next.

For Richardson, who’s entering his 12th season, his game is constantly evolving. He’s not the same player who won back-to-back dunk titles. It’s not what his new coach is expecting from him, either.

“That’s always been me – playing hard, going out there and doing whatever it takes, showing people that I can still jump a little bit and just having fun,” Richardson said Tuesday, after the Sixers wrapped up a practice at PCOM.

“I’ve always been that way, playing hard and having fun.”

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Richardson came to the Sixers in that four-way deal that added big man Andrew Bynum to Doug Collins’ rotation. At the players’ introductory press conference, Bynum naturally mugged most of the attention. But Richardson’s role with the Sixers is going to be nearly as vital as Bynum’s.

Collins has tasked 31-year-old Richardson — as well as fellow newcomers Nick Young and Dorell Wright — with giving the Sixers a perimeter attack they lacked last season. A year ago, the Sixers ranked 24th in 3-pointers made (349) and 25th in 3-pointers attempted (963). All three, led by Richardson, own a .365 or better career percentage from long range.

So while he might not rattle the rim like the dunk artist he once was, Richardson’s impact on the offense will be felt in a different way.

Tuesday, the Sixers ended their practice with an intense shooting drill. Perimeter guys were at one end of the floor, post players at the other. Richardson said the outside shooters were working on “their feel,” figuring out where each of them likes to receive a pass beyond the arc.

It’s not like they’re speaking a different language or anything.

“It’s a feeling, knowing where guys are at,” Richardson said. “Dorell tells me, there was a time when I should’ve taken a shot and I passed it and he said, ‘You’re a shooter. Shoot the ball.’ And I come back two plays later and the same thing (happened) with him. He caught the ball, was wide open and didn’t take the shot.

“That’s kind of the language we have with each other.”

Richardson, with an in-transition Charlotte club during the 2007-08 season, had the leeway to go nuts from long range. That year, he led the NBA in 3-pointers made and attempted. It was the first season in which Richardson attempted more than a third of his shots from 3-point distance, and it got the ball rolling in helping to transition Richardson into a legitimate perimeter threat.

It’s why the Sixers were so adamant in prying him from Orlando in that trade back in August.

What’s more, Richardson is the most-tenured player on the Sixers’ roster, along with Kwame Brown. Collins said he’s counting on Richardson to be his liaison between the players and the staff. So far, it’s working.

“He came to me today and said, ‘Hey Coach, guys are getting beat up a little bit. Just wanted to make you aware of that.’ So I shut practice down an hour early,” Collins said of Richardson. “He’s a great pro.”

Collins said a chunk of the Sixers’ offense will come with getting up and down the floor and knocking down transition 3s, with Richardson playing a part in that. It’ll also come from the ability of Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner to perfect the kick-and-drive tactic.

“The thing I like is guys who’ve been in different systems, we run an action we call our Pistol series,” Collins said. “(Richardson) ran it a lot in Phoenix with Steve Nash and Grant Hill. As I’m teaching it, he becomes a real mentor because he talks about in Phoenix how they did things – where they caught the ball, how they did things. I ran that in Detroit a long time ago, and I put that in with Grant Hill. So it’s been something we’ve run forever. For him to teach that is great.”

NOTES

The Sixers likely will have a light workout today before they hop a flight for Orlando, where they’ll open their preseason slate against the Magic Thursday night. That starts a stretch of seven exhibitions in 11 days. … Guard Xavier Silas said via his Twitter account that the Sixers released him. It was the second training camp that Silas, undrafted in 2011 out of Northern Illinois, had spent with the team.